Our streets could end up with potholes wider than the state of Rhode Island.

So what is Sacramento doing?

What else but giving away more money.

The California Air Resources Board will give those who turn in vehicle models 1976 or older into a licensed dismantler $1,000 or $1,500 if they are low-income.

This is being done at the directive of the California Legislature. Of course, bureaucrats can’t leave bad enough alone. They sweetened the directive by offering bonus vouchers of between $2,000 and $2,500 to state residents living in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California to buy fuel efficient cars that are 2009 or older and get at least 28 mph gallon.

Why should anyone act responsibly? Just wait for the government to give you enticement money.

There is no longer an incentive to be a “good” citizen. Like an idiot, I was driven to buy a more fuel efficient car that was also cleaner than most by buying a Ford Escape hybrid. If I had just waited I could have either had the federal government throw $4,000 at me or else California give up to $2,500.

If I had waited a couple months I could have bought a house with $8,000 courtesy of Uncle Sam.

There’s a lesson to be learned here. Just as rebates and zero financing changed buyers’ expectation you’d now be an imbecile to make any purchase of consequence until the latest cash offer rolls out of Washington, D.C., or Sacramento.

Getting inefficient cars off the road is a good thing but so is weaning the government off deficit spending.

This is the logical extension of cradle to grave government that way too many of us crave.

We believe we are entitled to a government that makes sure we don’t fail and helps us do the right thing by bribing us with money.

And who pays for it?

We do.

We moan and groan about taxes but we have no problem if they stick it to someone else like big oil. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think big oil should get of the hook. The problem is whatever we tax them – or any other business or concern – it is simply passed on as a cost of doing business. Since well over 85 percent of the economy is consumer driven who do you think ends up paying through the nose? Yes, it is the consumer aka taxpayer.

Taxes are a necessary evil. What isn’t necessary is the government playing Robin Hood with the outright transfer of wealth.

Government is getting more brazen with each passing year. It wasn’t good enough that they offered tax deductions and then tax credits. Now they’re handing out cash for “politically correct” purchases.

Our elected leaders are culpable in this entire mess.

Why are they driving vehicles that don’t get 28 miles per gallon when they lease them on our dime for official business? The reason is simple. It is always “do as I say and not as I do” with the politically correct set.

It is kind of like the guy I saw pass me on Highway 99 one time driving a Prius with “Keep Tahoe Blue” and “Save Mono Lake” stickers and such plastered across the back while doing at least 70 mph.